Review of Summer's Shadow by Anna Wilson

Summer's mother's will
states that Summer's legal guardian is her uncle Tristan: a man Summer
has never even heard of before. Forced to leave her life in London,
Summer moves to Tristan's creepy, ancient house in Cornwall. There she
is met with indifference from him, open hostility from her cousin, and
an aunt who has chosen to leave rather than to tolerate her presence.
Soon Summer comes to believe that the house may be haunted. But is it
haunted by ghosts, or by the shadows of her family's past? Scared and
lonely, Summer begins to spend more and more time in the beautiful
sheltered cove she discovers nearby. But she's not alone. A local boy
frequents it too. Can Summer find first love and the answers to the
mysteries of her new home with this good-looking boy who appears to be
too perfect to be true?

A
super quick read, I finished this in a morning. Summer's Shadow is the
story of Summer, who moves down to Penzance to live with her distant
uncle after her mother's death. Trying to fit in with her new family
would be hard enough, but only her Uncle seems to want her around, his
wife is never there and Kenan, her cousin, is constantly threatening
her. Meanwhile, she thinks she's going crazy, seeing her mother's ghost
everywhere and hearing creepy noises in the walls.

This was a fun
read but definitely aimed towards the younger end of YA - it's not
quite children's but it's not quite YA either. The main character is 14 and the story is told in a YA style, but with a younger feel. I do think younger readers would enjoy this more than older readers, and it's a good story to start with for a child looking to start reading YA.

I loved Zach and Summer's relationship. It's a very sweet, summer romance and he really helps he get through the summer while she's trying to cope with her grief, new surroundings and a cousin that loathes her and just wants her out of the house. Nearly all of their relationship is set on the beaches of Cornwall, somewhere I've been near but never visited.The
story is unusual because it has a creepy, gothic feel to it at the same
time as having a summery romantic feel. The cover is super summery too!
It's a great mystery, I spent nearly all of my time reading it trying
to work out if Summer was indeed seeing ghosts, or if something else was
going on. I was surprised by the ending, though.